2020 : Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[TomD]

Forgot to bring the fishing pole.

 

[Browneye]

Specialized bikes NA is located in Morgan Hill CA where my youngest lives. Their premier dealer in the same town is in an eclectic designer type mall place, right across the walkway from a tap room with 86 beers!
You can walk across with beer in hand and peer at all their bikes, especially the turbo-levo. Oh dear, what a dangerous combination. I nearly dropped five grand on that trip.

Forgot to bring the fishing pole.

Nice. Where in WA? I grew up there...looks like Olympic peninsula.

EDIT: Does that sign say 'Bellevue'? My oldest daughter trains the court clerks for King County Courts.

 

[TomD]

Bellevue area (Phantom Lake), with Lake Sammamish, I-90, and the Cascades sprinkled in.

 

[Browneye]

Awesome. Yeah, she lives in Mill Creek, we grew up there, Edmonds, Bellevue, Redmond, Woodinville, Snohomish, Monroe. Family in Everett and Marysville. I graduated from Edmonds HS, '75.
Nice pics.

 

[Alaskan]

Those cookies smell great!!

I chuckle because sometimes I bring cookies (not homemade, but really good) to my local bike shop. Just because they treat me very well!

How to win friends and influence people in

 

[Alaskan]

I went for a rip roaring, all turbo ride yesterday around Bellingham Bay. I put out an average of 95 watts with Mr. Bosch speeding me along at almost 20mph average. The white crumbles just in front of the bike are oyster shells left behind by crows who pick the oysters at low tide and drop them on the road to crack them open.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

HI All,

Still bikeless because of stay in Warsaw. Brix (my gf) and I enjoying life.

Brix with a raspberry tincture at the Russian restaurant in Warsaw named "Babooshka".

Russian Potato Pancakes ("draniki") with mushroom and sour cream at the Russian restaurant.

Mikkeller "1000 IBU" Imperial IPA 9.6% abv at Kufle i Kapsle pub in Warsaw City. @Browneye would certainly appreciate the ales we had on Sunday night

 

[FlatSix911]

Forgot to bring the fishing pole.

Great images... are you a photographer?

 

[FlatSix911]

Specialized bikes NA is located in Morgan Hill CA where my youngest lives.
Their premier dealer in the same town is in an eclectic designer type mall place, right across the walkway from a tap room with 86 beers!
You can walk across with beer in hand and peer at all their bikes, especially the turbo-Levo. Oh dear, what a dangerous combination.
I nearly dropped five grand on that trip.

Nice. Where in WA? I grew up there...looks like the Olympic peninsula.
EDIT: Does that sign say 'Bellevue'? My oldest daughter trains the court clerks for King County Courts.

Thanks for the recommendation... I will have to visit the Specialized dealer and the local taproom.

 

[Readytoride]

22 miles yesterday with the group on the bike trail, 31 miles today on a gravel road solo ride.

Yesterday started out below freezing, but gradually warmed up to "won't turn your face into a block of ice" temps. Still, it remained "Puffy ski jacket with neck warmer pulled up over the nose and cheeks" type of temps for the ride. Not terribly cold, but still cold enough. Stopped at a bakery midway and overindulged buying a few of the really top end goodies. My husband was delighted with the "gifts" after I got home.

Today was a complete about face. Temps roared upwards into the high 50s f (12+c) by the time I set off, and reached 63 f (17c) for the remainder of the ride. Glorious sunny bright warm weather. Not a breath of wind. It was as calm as calm can be.

Trees are still under the impression that winter has one month left, but the undergrowth is convinced Springtime is already here, addressing the immediate need to change from drab gray to vibrant green. So...the scenery looks a bit schizophrenic.

Was amused to see two horses standing in a field, still dressed in their winter attire. Must belong to a fussy owner who doesn't want muddy or dirty horses at the end of the day.

[45 minutes later.... Good Lord! I fell asleep writing this and my tablet went to sleep, too, and failed to upload the picture. Here it is. Must rush to finish before I doze off again!]

You have to look close to see the two horses.

[There. Now I'm done.]

 

[steve mercier]

I went for a rip roaring, all turbo ride yesterday around Bellingham Bay. I put out an average of 95 watts with Mr. Bosch speeding me along at almost 20mph average. The white crumbles just in front of the bike are oyster shells left behind by crows who pick the oysters at low tide and drop them on the road to crack them open.

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Sweet bike Alaskan... That bag sits high. Can that Delite rack accept panniers ? Oh I see now... it only looks high when the dropper post is down!

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Not a lot of boating today on Saratoga Lake

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Back on off the road again …

Gum trees beside the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail​

After more than two weeks in hospital my Trek Powerfly 5 and R&M Homage are back in service.

The extraordinary coincidence is that both suffered the same problem – failure of electrical connection between battery and motor – and both were restored to health by having the wiring harness replaced.

Back to normal? I hope so.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Good to see you back on off the road David!

 

[steve mercier]

Back on off the road again …
View attachment 46737

Gum trees beside the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail​

After more than two weeks in hospital my Trek Powerfly 5 is back.

Purchased	2018 June 30
Problem	No power from battery to motor.
Solution	Replace wiring harness.
Parts – Bosch	No charge.
Labour – Trek	No charge.

Did they not give you a loaner bike while yours were in the shop?

 

[Deleted member 18083]

The end to a short, hot day …

Dairy farms near Ipswich, QLD.​

With just over two weeks to the autumn equinox the sun is disappearing ever-earlier. This photo was taken about 8 km from home just before 6.00 pm.

I am fortunate in having a choice of quiet country roads or the country's longest rail trail within minutes of home. If the day is coming to an end, I often slip out for an hour or so.

The joys of ebiking!

 

[Readytoride]

Between thunderstorm and drenching rains, there was a brief intermission of sun and blue skies enough to raise the temps to spring weather. Heard reports that the cherry trees on the tital basin in Washington DC were already blooming, a full month ahead of schedule.

I haven't seen any buds opening on my cherry trees, but we're always at least 2 weeks behind the Capital trees by virtue of our close proximity to the mountains.

Managed to sneak an hour away on my 1994 hybrid which is now a Class 2 ebike. Rode 9.1 miles of which 3 miles was a gravel road. Beautiful day, great ride on a lovely old vintage bike.

 

[PDXzap]

I haven't seen any buds opening on my cherry trees

The cherry trees are bursting here but not any good pics yet.

 

[TomD]

Great images... are you a photographer?

Thanks, nah, just cell phone snaps. I usually don't get inspired unless I have a photogenic subject, like an alpine lake, or a new orange bike.

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Just another ride …

Lowood Station on the old Brisbane Valley Branch Line​

Wednesday morning didn't go according to plan; not that it mattered. I had intended to take the Powerfly for an outing up the coast and, afterwards, to pick up the Homage from the R&M dealer in town. There was a 10% chance of 'any rain' according to the forecast.

I didn't need the alarm to wake me up; the clatter of rain pouring down onto a tin roof was sufficient. To ride or not to ride? Rhetorical question, but I certainly was not going to sit on the motorway for forty minutes in the rain! Much better to flick on the television and watch a Belgian bike race on Eurosport; it's Cobble Classics time in Europe.

After the European interlude and another coffee, a local ride would have to suffice…

From home the rail trail (wide purple line) headed north past where I photographed the gum trees yesterday, through Fernvale (home of the 'world famous' pies) and beside the road through Vernor (population 3 cows?). As I've admitted previously, my knowledge of farming is essentially non-existent; however, these stumpy-legged cattle chomping their way through their over-long fodder crop might be Belted Galloways or, more likely, a cross involving that breed.

Beef cattle, Vernor.​

And so to Lowood. For some of us, the rail trail running past the old station is in need of an upgrade; for others (the gravel grinders) it's already too smooth!

My return trip involved our local country roads including revisiting the location of yesterday's evening ride (sunset photo on previous page) and a trip across the Brisbane River and along an almost-unused farm track. For us, the rain was gone but it still looked like it might be wet towards Brisbane. It was just as well that I hadn't gone that way.

Farm road, Borallon.​